


clair de lune (moonlight)

by WallflowerBouquet



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Best Friends, Boys Kissing, Cheesy, Childhood Friends, Classical Music References, Confessions, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Summer Vacation, Taeyeon baby I’m so sorry, Teen Romance, dumbasses!chanbaek, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27227440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WallflowerBouquet/pseuds/WallflowerBouquet
Summary: In which Chanbaek are neighbors and Chanyeol gets the brilliant idea to confess his undying love, three AM on their last day of high school.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun & Park Chanyeol, Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 16
Kudos: 40





	clair de lune (moonlight)

**Author's Note:**

> Listen to Clair de lune by Claude Debussy for a better experience.

It was one of those nights. The stars and moon shone on a deep blue sky, muted by the light pollution from the city. Baekhyun’s skin glowed as if he was one of the stars in the moonlight. 

Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s windows were wide open, curtains flowing in the wind. During the year, both of them had become a little careless, anxiety from the upcoming SAT results combining with the stress that was knowing that they would graduate and move on to university. Like their peers, they had realized that adulthood and its responsibilities were inevitable, and now closer than what they were prepared for. Being fully aware of their limited time left as innocent kids was like a key of sorts, unlocking all of their hidden desires. They only had one summer left to waste.

A dry sheen of sweat from the early summer heatwave pinched at Chanyeol’s skin. He sat criss-cross on his desk, pushed up against his window for occasions like these, with his guitar in his lap. Facing him was Baekhyun, ever so enchanting. His short legs dangled from his windowsill, the breeze tousling his hair. He looked stunning that night. 

They had gone from having a rap battle that Chanyeol won, not because of his witty insults but because Baekhyun couldn’t rap, to Chanyeol strumming on his guitar to accompany Baekhyun’s lonely voice. Dean’s ‘instagram’ had never sounded so good. 

Baekhyun’s eyes were shut softly as he sung, long eyelashes flush against his pale cheeks. Maybe there was something weird in the summer scented air, but Chanyeol could swear he knew no sound prettier than Baekhyun’s voice, and he listened to it in pure bliss, hung up on every syllable he sung. 

With the song coming to an end, Baekhyun’s voice faded into the nothingness of the night around them and Chanyeol stopped playing. They were in perfect harmony, even in the silence. Chanyeols heart beat crazy fast, contrary to how slow the world around him was moving. 

Chanyeol was staring at him when Baekhyun snapped his eyes open. Chanyeol‘s gaze did not falter, but Baekhyun’s heart did, skipping a beat.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Baekhyun stuttered, scared to meet Chanyeol’s eyes. It’d always been like that, Chanyeol being able to map out every slope and crevice of Baekhyun’s features, and Baekhyun barely brave enough to know the color of Chanyeol’s eyes. Only when Chanyeol didn’t notice could he just sit and gawk at him for hours on end, in maths or science, or when Chanyeol fell asleep in his lap. 

“Like what?” The look on Chanyeol’s face was one of pure admiration, and even if it was clear to see, Baekhyun didn’t want to. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. Chanyeol was so good that falling in love had been inevitable. Chanyeol would ruffle and mess up Baekhyun’s hair but was always equally ready to brush his tears away. Even when Chanyeol tried to be rough, he remained gentle. The idea that Chanyeol could be his was a dream, way too distant and intangible in Baekhyun’s mind. There was no way Park Chanyeol liked him back.

He huffed and crossed his arms, accomplishing nothing but to make Chanyeol fawn. “You look dumb. We should go to sleep now or your parents will kill us both tomorrow. I’m tired of you anyway,” Baekhyun huffed, stubborn as ever.

“I do all this? Play the guitar I for you and everything and this is how I’m treated? You’re so mean.” Chanyeol teased, but complied anyway and slid off his desk. Sucking in a deep breath, he snuck across the room. Handling a guitar was no soundless activity, and he had to be careful so his parents wouldn’t wake up. “Tomorrow is the last day of school anyway, why does it matter if we sleep or not?” He whispered when he got back to his window.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, as if the answer was completely obvious. “Because it isthe last day of school, idiot! If you show up looking like a goth raccoon you’ll make me look bad too!” 

Taking a less elegant approach to hopping inside again, Baekhyun slung his legs over the windowsill and tripped himself in the process. He landed on his rug with a loud thud and a choked snort from Chanyeol. Baekhyun’s parents weren’t home, so there was no sleeping dragon to tip toe around. Not that Baekhyun usually cared, either way he’d cause enough commotion to keep the entire neighborhood awake. 

A mumbled, accidental, “adorable,” slipped from Chanyeol, and Baekhyun shot up from the floor in surprise. Chanyeol wanted to log out from existence and delete his account. 

They made eye contact, staring at each other, even if Baekhyun looked more plotting than sleepy. An eery silence engulfed them for what must’ve been the first time since they met. Baekhyun shifted and cleared his throat, trying to come up with something to fill the suddenly awkward silence.

“Goodnight, Dipshit,” Baekhyun said, flipping his pink box dye fried bangs out of his face. His voice was barely above a whisper, but audible enough for Chanyeol to hear. If he’d said it louder, Chanyeol would’ve heard the reluctance. They both felt out of place, as if something was missing. There were more words to say, their time was dire and their fates uncertain. This isn’t how it ends, not tonight. 

Chanyeol replied with a weak “Goodnight, Baekhyun.” They made an unspoken deal to close their hearts as they closed their windows. Maybe it was for the better.

With a loud thud, Chanyeol fell onto his bed. He tried to clear his mind but to no avail, staring at his ceiling was no help. A familiar feeling swelled in his chest and filled him up to the brim with confusion. He had felt it coming. It had been building up as the days went by, and now it reached its peak. 

Alone in the silence, Chanyeol’s heart revealed something that changed him forever. What had been hiding in fear of rejection came out, and Chanyeol had an epiphany.

Chanyeol liked a boy. That boy was Baekhyun. Chanyeol liked Baekhyun. Of course he did.

The realization hurt. It was as close to an emotional sucker punch as it gets. He liked his amazing, idiot best friend and his best friend was a boy and Chanyeol was also a boy and despite all those facts he still wanted to hear his pretty voice and call him adorable and maybe have Baekhyun call him stupid again because it was honestly more cute than upsetting. It was scary, even if the sweet feelings of adoration were still there. He had so much to loose, so much that could go wrong if he confessed, but for Baekhyun it seemed worth it. Ew, he’s like a schoolgirl, all mushy gushy, and for an idiot like Baekhyun? It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore. It was his last school night ever, and he wasn’t going to let it slip between his fingers.

With his heart in his throat Chanyeol threw his window open. He knocked on Baekhyun’s window. Hard. Maybe too hard. He didn’t care. Breaking his window would just be a bonus. Ok, maybe not, not if Baekhyun got hurt.

There was grumbling from inside as the window opened. In the window stood Baekhyun, tousled by sleep and squinting back at him. They were still on the same wavelength.

“What the hell do you want, Yoda?” Baekhyun asked, voice wrecked from exhaustion.

“Baekhyun, I think I’m in love,” came Chanyeol’s determined voice. Why was he doing this again?

Suddenly, Baekhyun seemed interested, eyes wide and lips curled into a sly smirk. “Ha, simp! With who tho?” His fingers drummed against his windowsill, nails scraping at the old paint, one of his habits.

Chanyeol crossed his arms and Baekhyun oogled them, shameless. “You know what? I’m not gonna tell you.” 

Baekhyun immediately sunk to his knees behind his window, hands raised above his head in a theatrical pleading motion. “No, no, no I was totally kidding what do you mean? I’ll even set you up with her and everything, I know most people at school don’t even worry about it, please just tell me,” he whined.

“Alright, dude I’ll tell you, get up.” 

Baekhyun shot up into a silly victory dance and Chanyeol watched, half bitter half sweet. 

“Wait!” Baekhyun stopped dancing to point an accusing finger at Chanyeol. “I know who it is!” 

A lump formed in Chanyeol’s throat. “You- you do?” 

“Of course, you’re way obvious.” 

“Listen, Baek, I—“

“It’s Taeyeon right?” Chanyeol let out a sigh of relief “,The girl you did that chemistry project with?”

“It’s not Taeyeon, She’s your ex dude, bro code.” 

“Shit you’re right I almost forgot about that.” Baekhyun rubbed his chin in contemplation before his eyes lit up again. “Right—Wait then is it Joohyun? You know her, with the voice!” 

“Nope.”

Baekhyun looked completely dumbfounded. “Then who—“ 

“It’s you.” Brutally honest words ran out of his mouth before Chanyeol could so much as think them over. Breathing became much harder. 

Baekhyun’s heart almost stopped beating. He blinked once, twice, three times, eyes fixating on Chanyeol’s petrified face, letting his words sink in. 

“No you’re not.” Baekhyun furrowed his eyebrows, gears grinding in his head. Every part of Chanyeol, from his wide, then rigid shoulders to his glassy, unblinking eyes were pointing at it; Chanyeol hadn’t lied. “Wait, like, for real?”

“Yeah.” 

There’s a beat of nothingness, the only sounds mingling with the radio silence being their beating hearts and the distant buzz of the city. Chanyeol was so on edge, he could’ve dropped dead on the spot. 

Baekhyun stumbled backwards, and Chanyeol’s attention was irked away from himself. “No, no, what the fuck?” A glint of something new appeared over his eyes. It was barely visible in the dark, but his eyes seemed— glossy? Was he—

“Wait, are you crying?” 

“No I’m not!” Baekhyun croaked, sniffling as he pawed at his wet cheeks with the sleeves of his hoodie. Or well, Chanyeol’s hoodie that he had ‘borrowed’ and never returned. He stepped away from his window, as if it was going to obscure him completely, but of course Chanyeol could still see him, and he was nothing short of staring. “I just got something in my eye.”

Chanyeol bit his hand to stifle his giggles. “That’s cringe.”

Baekhyun swung his fist as close to Chanyeol as he could from his window, almost falling out of it in the process. “Shut up! I guess I— sorta love you back.” Baekhyun sniffled through a smile. It was small but giddy, breaking his frown, and Chanyeol couldn’t help but grin right back at him, wide and toothy, one that reached his eyes.

“Can I come over?”

“You know you can, idiot.” 

As if their fate was already decided, Baekhyun brought out their designated escape plank and slid it from his windowsill to Chanyeol’s. Even if Chanyeol was much taller, and as a result was more heavy than Baekhyun, he was still always the one to climb it. Bullying works. 

With a screech from Chanyeol’s window and a worrying creak from the plank, Chanyeol was in motion. Their houses sold for cheaper than average, built too close together, but of course that was only a perk now that Chanyeol could, albeit unsafely, pass through both houses with a little bit of amateur parkour. The plank had never broken during its many years of usage, and was still going strong to this day. Sort of. Wishful thinking and glue works like magic. 

Chanyeol shimmied his way over the plank, as gracefully as a six foot man could shimmy. Baekhyun cheered whenever the plank seemed like it was about to do a full 180 and execute Chanyeol with a straight six meter fall into Baekhyun’s mom’s rose bushes. No matter how in love they were, Baekhyun was always going to remain Baekhyun, finding happiness in his misery. 

It went smooth all the way, until he was about three quarters over the plank. Another creak, now louder. It cracked. And, in time with Baekhyun’s breath hitching in anticipation, it snapped.

Chanyeol yelped. Pieces of wood fell to the ground, into Mrs. Byuns beloved bushes. Baekhyun grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him in, and so Chanyeol launched off from the plank and into Baekhyun’s room through the window. The only problem was that Baekhyun was still standing in that window.

Head first, he toppled Baekhyun over, landing them on the grey rug with a bang, and their alarmed yelps mixed together. Chanyeol had his large palms on either side of Baekhyun’s head, like a frame around his surprised face. Baekhyun’s looked so pretty in the moonlight, pink lips parted and cheeks slightly puffy from his nap. Chanyeol caught himself staring, but who was he to look away? Maybe it was ok to look at Baekhyun like this now, now that he knew that he wasn’t imagining things when Baekhyun stared back. 

“Fucking ow! You’re squishing me to death!” Baekhyun squirmed under him. Chanyeol was quick go roll away onto his side, resting on his forearm.

“You’re hurt?” He asked, staring at Baekhyun who was rubbing the back of his head, glaring at Chanyeol. 

Baekhyun put on his best shocked expression. “Oh-em-gee, Sherlock, is that really you? I’m a big fan but, I hadn’t imagined you as Asian before I mean, I hadn’t imagined you as my boyfriend either so I guess we are in for lots of surprises today—“

“I’m your boyfriend?” Chanyeol asked, heart in his throat yet again. Baekhyun had called him his boyfriend. 

Baekhyun stopped in his tracks, hand freezing at his head before sinking to his lap, slow and shaking. “Uh- I’m sorry I didn’t mean to—“ He stuttered, he was so nervous and it broke Chanyeol’s heart to watch it.

“We’ve hit sixteen, I thought we were already married, how dare you!” He exclaimed, mimicking Baekhyun’s usual drama. He placed a hand over his oh so wounded heart, before lending Baekhyun his help up off the floor.

Baekhyun didn’t say anything back. All he could do was smile, smile until his cheeks hurt because what Chanyeol was saying was true. He could almost recall it in perfect detail. 

Halloween in elementary school when they were trick-or-treating and their sweet neighbor Mrs. Song had gifted them a candy pop ring. Chanyeol proposed with it, and they promised each other that if they hadn’t found themselves each their girl at the age of sixteen, they’d marry each other. Their concept of age and appropriate time to get married at wasn’t all that perfect when they were seven, but now they were a few years past sixteen and still completely infatuated.

Pale like the moon and glowing with mirth, Baekhyun looked beautiful in the low light. It brought a sort of mystique to his familiar features, one Chanyeol wasn’t used to seeing, and suddenly his smile was a stranger. His pink lips curved upwards into a lovely little smile, and the urge to touch them was far too strong to resist, and so Chanyeol gave in. With his nerves on end, his thumb brushed ever so gently over the wet plush of Baekhyun’s bottom lip, tracing the curve and coming to rest in the corner. 

Baekhyun let out a shaky breath, cold on Chanyeol’s skin. His eyes were glued to Chanyeol’s hand. “I’ll bite you,” came his shaky resolve, but it held no venom. 

“You would’ve done it a long time ago if you really wanted to,” He whispered, and so Chanyeol sunk down to meet Baekhyun’s mouth. 

Softly, like ocean waves in good weather, they moved against each other. Nimble fingers intertwined with soft, dark curls at Chanyeol’s neck, the fabric of his shirt brushing against him. He stroked the skin of Baekhyun’s jaw as it bloomed, red like poppies and hotter than the sun.

Baekhyun shivered. He felt a surge of helplessness, a force fueling his excitedly beating heart further. He was finally alive. 

They had switched, as to spare Chanyeol’s spine, and now Baekhyun had to stand on his tippy toes to reach up. it was surprising how natural it felt. This wasn’t like kissing a girlfriend he was half interested in or making out with random people at parties. This was Chanyeol. Stupid, dorky Chanyeol with his yoda ears and his dumb crooked smile, who didn’t feel like cardboard or mush. He was where he belonged, and closer than he’d ever been to his best friend.

And so they stood, kissing in the dark, barely navigating each other in the moonlight. It was like slow dancing, the way Chanyeol’s arms snaked around Baekhyun’s waist and made him sway. 

“You were right,” Chanyeol said, hand stroking Baekhyun’s hair.

Baekhyun giggled and stole a glance at him. “Of course, I’m always right.” He boasted, before his face fell flat in confusion. “Wait but about what?”

“My parents are definitely gonna kill us tomorrow. Or today, I guess.” Chanyeol slurred. 

“Yeah. And you’re gonna look like a goth raccoon.”

Chanyeol smiled lazily, and closed his eyes. He wasn’t going to sleep, he just wanted to rest them a little. Just rest. “And make you look bad?”

“No. You’re too handsome to make me look bad.”

“You know I can hear how fast your heart is beating, right?” He asked, and grabbed Chanyeol’s hand from where it rested atop his head. Baekhyun placed it over his heart, to which Chanyeol opened his left eye and quirked an eyebrow. Under his fingers he felt the rapid, rhythmic beat, thunking even faster than his own.

“Mine is too.”

More self assured this time, Chanyeol sunk down to meet Baekhyun’s mouth again. 

Their breaths mingled. The softness of Baekhyun’s sweater, and the firm trace of his hip underneath it was all that Chanyeol could feel. Together, silent into infinity. 

It couldn’t last too long, because spilling into their room was something bright. Something gleaming. Baekhyun turned away to see the night sky long gone, and leaving Chanyeol pouting. The thousand colored light of dawn, and a red sun peaking from behind power lines lit up the room, and most important— Baekhyun. Chanyeol had seen so much in his best friend’s eyes this night, fear and love, and unblinking anticipation. But this Baekhyun was still, serene just like the world around him. 

The alarm clock on Baekhyun’s bedside table read five am. Their final day of high school had come so soon. The night had made them invincible. It made them forget. About everything. The future, friends, school, grades, midterms, university, parents, jobs, money, surviving after their final summer had passed. All of it had faded away into bleak nothingness. It was sobering, making him wake up from his sleepy haze. 

Baekhyun’s head whipped around, a new sense of alarm in his eyes. “Chanyeol, what date is it again?” 

“Ninth of June,” Chanyeol replied, reading the tiny script from Baekhyun’s alarm clock. 

Baekhyun choked on air and pused Chanyeol away in the blink of an eye, pure terror claiming his body. “My parents are home.” He was a mess, his hair tousled and lips red and swollen, and Chanyeol could only assume they mirrored his own. It was incriminating to say the least, and it was enough to make it make sense for Chanyeol. Only now could he hear the footsteps.

“Maybe if we just say we had spicy noodles?”

“As if they’d believe that, with our collective cooking skills and my god level spice tolerance. Besides, why would we be having noodles together at five am?”

“It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing we’ve done at five am.”

“That wasn’t the point.”

“Then what do we do?” Chanyeol asked, looking to Baekhyun who was deep in thought, rubbing his temples and probably on the verge of another one of his stupid ideas.

His eyes lit up. “Window,” Baekhyun hissed and snapped his fingers. They rushed towards the window, still wide open.

Chanyeol readied himself, already shoving a leg out. “Give me the plank.”

“Right,” Baekhyun whispered, rushing to retrieve it from its usual spot by the sill, only to find it empty. “wait a minute.”

“Fuck.” 

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol started, letting out a defeated sigh as he gave up on escaping. There was no way he’d ever get to his side without that god damned plank, and that plank was currently laying broken in two in one of Mrs. Byun’s bushes.

“What?” Baekhyun asked, equally defeated as he took a seat on the windowsill right by Chanyeol. 

“You were wrong.”

Baekhyun quirked an eyebrow, still prideful in this state of emergency. “What do you mean? I’m never wrong.” The footsteps were closer than ever, pounding outside of Baekhyun’s room. 

“It’s not my parents that are gonna kill us today, it’s yours.”

And with those famous last words, the door to Baekhyun’s room swung open.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic I ever finished y’all I’m so proud! I have over 60+ fics sitting in my drafts but I’m just gonna ignore that rn. I was brainstorming alternate titles to this earlier because I thought that there had to be more fics titled the same as mine because Claire the lune is such a beautiful composition but to my luck, this is the first. Hope you liked it, a follow up one shot is in the writing!


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